The Dead Letter

Metta Victoria Fuller Victor (1831-1885) was an American novelist. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, she moved with her parents to Wooster, Ohio in 1839. There, she was enrolled at a female seminary with her sister Frances, who would later become a successful novelist and historian. After publishing stories in local newspapers, the two sisters moved to New York City to pursue their literary interests in earnest. There, Metta married publisher Orville James Victor and worked as an editor for several Beadle & Company publications. Using the pen-name Seeley Regester, she published dozens of successful dime novels. The Dead Letter (1867) has been recognized by scholars as the first full-length work of crime fiction in American literary history.